Uncovering the exciting fixtures of the 2021 season of the Central League
The new season of the Central League will feature a unique tournament system, divided into four phases with a total of 34 rounds of matches (10+8+8+8 rounds).
Stage 1: Three hosts (Chengdu Rongcheng, Meizhou Hakka and Wuhan Sanzhen) will be established, three seeded teams will be drawn to determine Groups A, B and C, while the remaining 15 teams will be serpentine arranged according to the 2020 rankings and enter Groups A, B and C directly. Six teams from each group will play a double round-robin of 10 rounds in one division, totaling 90 matches.
Stages 2-4: Rotation based on the results of Stage 1, each stage is divided into three groups with double round robin matches within the groups (no more matches between teams in the same group in Stage 1). In stages 2-4, each group plays 8 rounds, totaling 72 games.
The promotion quota for this season's Central League is set at 2+0.5+0.5, with the top two promoted directly and the third and fourth place finishers to play a play-off against the bottom two in the Chinese Super League to help expand the Chinese Super League in the 2022 season.
